Japan — Felice Beato | Album of 26 photographs of Japanese portraits and views. [Yokohama, c. 1868]

Japan — Felice Beato

Album of 26 photographs of portraits, scenes, manners, customs and views of Japan. [Yokohama, c. 1869]

Oblong folio (275 x 347mm.), 26 albumen prints (average 210 x 270mm., or the reverse), of which 23 hand-tinted, mounted on card, descriptive letterpress text mounted facing each photograph on verso of the preceding mount, modern black card wrappers, joined with black cord, some minor stains or spotting (mostly to mounts), one view faded, the final photograph cropped and laid down on modern card

Rare early photographs of Japan by Felice Beato (1832-1909), comprising 13 views and 13 hand-coloured genre scenes.

Beato was a pioneer foreign photographer in Japan, who first settled in Yokohama, Japan's major treaty port. He offered his first photographic albums for sale in 1868, and this album was part of that enterprise. The printed text that accompanies the photographs was written for a Western audience and describes places to see, suggesting itineraries and tips to visitors, as well as providing extensive descriptions of famous monuments, landscapes, and towns of Japan. Beato's photographs of Japan rapidly became a commercial success and were imitated by his competitors and later photographers.